Frozen Melodies: At Norway Festival, Ice Music Celebrates Winter

GEILO, Norway, March 26, 2011— -- They are instruments that make the sound of winter; the melodies of a frozen orchestra. Under a full winter moon, Norwegian musicians celebrated the season with instruments made of ice.

Everything about the annual Ice Music Festival in the mountain town of Geilo ("Yi-ee-lo"), Norway, is up to Mother Nature.

"Nature decides when this festival is going to be because of the full moon," festival creator Terje Isungset said at this year's festival in early February. "It decides the sounds of my instruments because of the quality of the ice."

"For most people in winter, [the snow and ice] has no value, it's just something you want to get rid of," Isungset said. "But I find a sound, when I find a sound, I try to work with it and create music with it."

Learning to make music from ice has been a journey of discovery for Isungset. It began when he was commissioned to perform at a festival in Norway in 2000 at a frozen waterfall.

"I didn't know what to do, but I had one idea, I wanted to make an ice harp," he said. "I discovered many things that I never imagined, sounds that I never imagined."

The ice is harvested from a frozen lake 25 miles north of Geilo. Ice cutters search for the clearest, cleanest ice. Using chain saws, they cut huge 600-pound blocks. Ice cutter Evan Rugg said they've seen some of the clearest ice ever this year. They've learned that the best sound comes from ice with no bubbles or cracks.

"This is probably the block with the best sound today," he said with satisfaction after heaving a block onto a sled behind his snowmobile. "You could see through it, and that makes a good sound."